On Nova 100’s Hughesy & Kate’s breakfast show, Hughesy has been making no secret of feelings that have recently developed for tennis legend Pat Rafter. He loves anything to do with sport including sports star Pat Rafter and can be slightly obsessive. Hughesy and Rafter met on Friday night at Sarah Murdoch’s 40th birthday party, and the breakfast host believed they had formed an instant, undeniable bond.
When discussing some of the momentous occasions in his life, like meeting his wife, Hughesy explained, “I think in 10 years time hopefully I am going to be talking about last Friday night as one of the big moments in my life, where I met, hopefully, my new best friend. I reckon I might have met my new best friend. It was just a feeling I got when we hung out.”
But it didn’t stop there. That night on Channel 10’s The Project, Hughesy took the unusual step of asking guest (and former tennis star) Scott Draper for Rafter’s phone number. Draper said that he’d been in touch with the two-time Wimbledon winner to let him know of Hughesy’s “stalking”, but surprisingly, “Pat was very receptive”.
The two-time Wimbledon winner was finding the whole thing very amusing, and called into Hughesy & Kate for a chat the next morning. Rafter went in to bat for Hughesy when recounting the night’s events, suggesting that the feelings weren’t all one-way. “We did click. I’m a big fan of yours, so I went over to you”, he revealed.
After the show, Hughesy finally made use of Rafter’s number and sent him a text, and in a scene taken straight from the schoolyard, Kate and Daniel Gawned helped him with the wording “Thanks buddy good fun Hughesy PS you can store my number”. Hughesy’s new best friend responded immediately, suggesting that Hughesy get his “tennis game ready for a hitout sometime in January”.
When pressed by Kate, Rafter suggested that he was “in the market for a new bestest friend” and told Hughesy that instead of heading to Noosa for his upcoming two week break from radio, he should head to Wimbledon if he wanted to hang out.